The poll, which also found that more than two-thirds of respondents (68%) believe that such an attack will provoke retaliation by Lebanon’s Hezbollah, is likely to bolster those in the administration of President Barack Obama who hope to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two men meet next week to shelve any plans his security cabinet may have for carrying out such an attack this year.
Netanyahu will be to speak before the annual convention of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has been the main domestic lobbying force pushing for a hawkish policy and congressional passage of a series of ever-tougher sanctions against Iran. Thus, AIPAC, presumably with Netanyahu’s encouragement and support, is lobbying for a pending Senate resolution that would take the “containment” option from the table and declare that it is a “vital national interest” of the U.S. to prevent Iran from acquiring a “nuclear weapons capability.”
Two other co-sponsors, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, met with Netanyahu in Israel last week, while three of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates are expected to endorse it when they address AIPAC next week. The resolution so far has 37 co-sponsors, roughly equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, in the 100-seat Senate, but AIPAC is expected to make an all-out push for passage when its 10,000 activists arrive in Washington this weekend.
In this context, the latest poll should strengthen Obama’s hand. In addition to the lack of support in Israel for a unilateral strike that isn’t approved by Washington, it also found that a large majority of Israelis — and especially Israeli Jews — believe that Hezbollah, which is believed to have tens of thousands of rockets targeted on Israel, would join Iran in retaliating against any attack on Tehran.
EU-Digest
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